Oilers 2, Rangers 1 … post-game notes & quotes

– The Rangers were defeated by the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1, tonight at Madison Square Garden, to end their season-high winning streak at four games. New York is now 15-6-1 in their last 22 games, and 10-4-0 in their last 14.
– The Blueshirts have posted a record of 31-24-3 overall (65 pts), including a 14-14-3 mark at home this season. The Rangers are 8-4-1 in their last 13 games at Madison Square Garden, and 9-5-2 in their last 16 at home.
– Tonight’s contest was the Rangers 6,000th regular season game in franchise history. New York has posted a 2,592-2,506-808-94 record over their first 6,000 contests. The Blueshirts have played 1,779 games at the current Madison Square Garden, posting a 935-600-200-44 record.
– The Rangers have now held opponents to two goals or fewer in 12 of their last 14 contests, 11 of the last 13 at home, and 35 of 58 games overall this season.
– New York out-shot Edmonton, 36-31, in the contest, with 17 of 18 skaters registering at least one shot on goal. The Blueshirts have out-shot their opponent in 21 of the last 27 games, holding a 942-798 shot advantage over their opponents during the stretch. The Rangers have registered 30 or more shots in 25 of the last 31 contests.
– The Rangers won 32-58 faceoffs (55%), led by Derek Stepan’s 15 faceoffs wins (15-20, 75%). Brad Richards also won 8-13 faceoffs (62%) in the contest.
– The Blueshirts out-hit the Oilers, 34-23, in the contest, led by Ryan Callahan’s game-high, eight hits. Callahan now ranks second on the team with 126 hits this season.

Player notes:

– Cam Talbot made 29 saves, and is now 10-5-0 overall with a 3-3-0 mark at home this season. He has held opponents to two goals or less in 12 of his 15 career starts, including four of six starts at home.
– Derick Brassard notched a goal to extend his point streak to five games (three goals, four assists over the span), and was credited with three hits in 14:10 of ice time. He has also tallied a goal in each of the last three games, which ties a career-high, and is now tied for second on the team with nine goals registered at home this season.
– Mats Zuccarello tallied an assist to extend his point streak to a career-high, five games (two goals, five assists over the span), and was credited with four hits in 16:16 of ice time. He has registered a point in 10 of the last 14 games (five goals, seven assists over the span), and now leads the team with 27 assists and 42 points this season.
– Benoit Pouliot recorded one assist, three shots, and two hits in 14:22 of ice time. He has now registered three points (one goal, two assists) in the last five games.

Quotebook:

Alain Vigneault on tonight’s game… “When you look at this game coming in, there are no easy games in this league. You have to prepare yourself to execute and compete real hard. This wasn’t an easy game. They came out and they scored the first goal. I thought some parts of our game we were executing and playing fast and some other parts we were standing still and watching them. We had some good chances prior to their goal and didn’t hit the net and they buried theirs.”

Brad Richards on tonight’s game… “We had the puck a lot of times. Sometimes we stayed on the outside too much but it was 1-1. We had probably three or four chances to make it 2-1 and they got a chance and scored on us. Unfortunately that’s hockey. We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve played pretty good as of late. I think we could’ve done a little more. We’ll try to regroup, we’ve just got to wake up tomorrow and get back to work.”

Ryan Callahan on tonight’s game… “I don’t think we were getting pucks deep quite enough. They’re a good transition team with a lot of speed. We were a little bit sloppy through the neutral zone, and when you do that against a team like that it’ll cost you.”